NEVER MIND THE BANDWIDTH... FEEL THE AVAILABILITY. THE TMC EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

This article discusses the excellent current situation of RDS-TMC in the UK, with respect to services using DAB. It shows that limited bandwidth is no longer as limiting to TMC services as advocates of DAB claim. TMC is a traffic and travel information service, which was launched in the UK in October 1998 by Lord Whitty, Minister for Roads. It uses FM radio to transmit digital messages, which can be translated by driver's in-vehicle receivers into their own languages. TMC services are already being broadcast across most of Europe. In the UK, the two competing TMC services, provided by a public-private partnership, in which both the Automobile Association (AA) and the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) collect traffic data, and adapt it to their users' different needs. With over 1000 event codes, very varied and rich information can be broadcast, as the AA and RAC both plan to include the use of real-time sensor data. A wide range of in-vehicle receivers is available in the UK. Although TPEG is more sophisticated than TMC, it is not yet developed sufficiently to make it a stable service. Although DAB has much more bandwidth than TMC, the TMC protocol ALERT C allows the broadcast of very specific messages. TMC is doing well in the UK, and is the first step to widely available Intelligent Transport System (ITS) services.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/32663949
• Corporate Authors:

  Cap Gemini

  ,    

  PB Farradyne

  444 South Flower Street, Suite 3700
  Los Angeles, CA  United States  90071

  iMPath Networks

  ,    

  Georgia Department of Transportation

  One Georgia Center
  600 West Peachtree Street, NW
  Atlanta, GA  United States  30308

  Pantech

  ,    

  System Innovations, Incorporated

  1551 Forbes Street
  Fredericksburg, VA  United States  22405
• Authors:
  • Graham, A
  • Burton, P
• Publication Date: 1999

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: p. 20-3
• Serial:
  • Traffic Technology International
  • Publisher: AutoIntermediates Limited
  • ISSN: 1356-9252
  • Serial URL: http://www.ukipme.com/mag_traffic.htm

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Competition; Data communications; Driver information systems; Drivers; Federal government; Frequency (Electromagnetism); Intelligent transportation systems; Messages (Communications); Methodology; Organizations; Passenger information systems; Radio; Sensors; Vehicle compartments; Vehicle interiors; Width
• Geographic Terms: United Kingdom
• ITRD Terms: 8531: Case study; 235: Competition; 8652: Data transmission (telecom); 1772: Driver; 6997: Frequency; 183: Government (national); 1377: Interior (veh); 8642: Message; 9102: Method; 9057: Organization (association); 8786: Passenger information; 6947: Radio; 6120: Sensor; 8119: United Kingdom; 6479: Width
• Subject Areas: Operations and Traffic Management; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00779137
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Files: ITRD, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Dec 7 1999 12:00AM